The Ginetta Challenge has enjoyed a superb start to its season where beating Sean Huyton is proving quite a challenge indeed as the teams head to Brands Hatch this weekend.
This year’s Ginetta Challenge is proving to be a fascinating battle. You have drivers new to Ginettas, a former champion and two classes of car all mixing it for overall honours. The newer G40 and the original G20 model have their own classes and each is ultra-competitive.
After Snetterton’s latest double-header, Sean Huyton (Academy Motorsport) has proved to be the man to beat, with a win at Oulton Park over Easter and then two more in Norfolk. His racecraft was impressive in the G20s in which he was a front-runner last season, but that added to his ability to push hard early on cold rubber makes him hard to beat. Mark Davies (Optimum Motorsport) is the other winner, the 2009 Champion returning to the Challenge after a frustrating season in the G50 Cup last year. Davies is at home in these cars and took a fine win in the season opener at Oulton, only to end race two in the tyre wall while squabbling with Clive Richards’ Colards Motorsport-run car. He was in the wars at Snetterton as well but certainly has the speed to recapture his winning ways at Brands.
Mike Robinson, new to Ginettas from Clios, has been going well for TCR, while keep an eye on Richard Sykes (HHC Motorsport) who led at Snetterton on the last lap until a clutch gremlin caused a spin.
In the G20 class, it’s three-one in terms of wins to Gary Simms over Stuart Pearson. Simms, an experienced Ginetta hand these days and an under-rated pedaller, won both Oulton Park races in his Optimum Motorsport-run car, despite a gearbox problem in race two. A victory at Snetterton kept his 100% record intact (despite contact from Lee Mowle who’d been tapped into a slide by Pearson) but he lost out on a frantic last lap in race two giving Pearson the win. Expect battle to be renewed this weekend, with Matt Flowers in touch as well.
Expect two cracking races, with action all the way down the field. Just keeping track of it all will be a challenge!
